The following are incomplete statistics of pet-related proposals during the two sessions:
Zhang Weiyuan: Increase Support for Innovative Veterinary Drugs
Zhang Weiyuan, member of the National Committee of the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference and chairman of HVSEN Biotech, said, “Veterinary drug technological innovation is an important starting point to promote industrial development and industrial upgrading, ensure the safety of people’s table food, and achieve high-quality development of the animal protection industry.” He believes that compared with the rapid development and industrial upgrading of the breeding industry, the complex and severe animal disease tests, and people’s increasingly high requirements for food safety standards, the supply of high-quality and efficient veterinary drug products appears insufficient.
Hua Yawei: Strengthen the Construction of Biosafety Risk Prevention, Control and Governance System
Hua Yawei, a member of the National Committee of the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference and a second-level professor and chief physician at the Henan Provincial Cancer Hospital, said that under China’s current legal framework, urban animal management lacks national-level laws. There is no industry competent authority in the pet market, and the industry standardization system is also incomplete. The disadvantages caused by the overlapping responsibilities of multiple departments in urban animal management are particularly obvious and prominent. There are about 60 kinds of diseases that are known to be common between humans and dogs and cats, but no sound scientific epidemic prevention barrier has been established and information traceability cannot be achieved. More than 20 million animals die in Chinese cities every year, and most of the carcasses are not treated harmlessly, greatly increasing the risk of potential disease outbreaks. In addition, the pet breeding and distribution industry is developing disorderly. Due to the lack of effective comprehensive management, the urban pet registration and management rate continues to decline, and the abandonment rate is gradually increasing. In addition, the prices in the dog and cat market are chaotic; consumer rights and interests are difficult to protect; and more than 30 billion yuan of live pet trade per year cannot be taxed according to law.
In this regard, Hua Yawei suggested that the construction of a national urban animal biosafety and smart management platform should be accelerated, the monitoring network for breeding and production, disease prevention and control, quarantine and inspection should be integrated, the production information collection, analysis and release system should be improved, and big data and other modern technologies should be fully utilized. Besides, it is important to strengthen the construction of technical support capabilities for epidemic prevention and control, improve urban animal disease monitoring systems and public service capabilities, scientifically carry out electronic licenses for urban animals, integrated epidemic prevention, and digitization of live supply chains. It is indispensable to establish the data supervision ability based on the traceability management of urban animal epidemic prevention and quarantine information, realize the monitoring and early warning of zoonotic diseases in urban animals and epidemiological investigation, and achieve the goal of 95% of residents’ pet control rate.
